Health

Issue: The Fda Is On The Verge Of Approving A Vaccine To Prevent Cervical Cancer.

May 24, 2006

After an ugly bout of political interference over a controversial contraceptive, women's health scored a victory when an advisory committee took up another potentially explosive advancement: a vaccine to block a sexually transmitted form of cervical cancer.

Unlike the politically charged atmosphere that stalled the morning-after pill, a vaccine to thwart the virus that causes a huge women's health threat has prompted concerns but no real opposition.

A federal advisory panel has endorsed the vaccine's approval, and the FDA is expected to accept the recommendation. That would be a welcome switch from its paralysis on the Plan B contraceptive.

Tests show Gardasil is nearly 100 percent effective at blocking four virulent strains of human papilloma virus, or HPV, which cause most cervical cancers. That means knocking back the second-leading cancer among women, a top public health priority.

Religious conservatives seem to recognize the virtues, too. Several groups have expressed concerns that an HPV vaccine may lead young girls to think sex is OK. Despite those fears -- best tempered with education -- no group spoke against Gardasil at the panel's hearing. According to the Los Angeles Times, many conservatives said they would simply not have their own daughters vaccinated.

Individual choice, aided by medical advice and sex education, is always the best prescription in handling such decisions. And they're not always made easily. Even some gynecologists worry about the unintended consequences of an HPV vaccine, that it could cause sexually active women to feel so invincible that they would get lax about condom use.

Such a dangerous false sense of security would leave those women open to other sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, gonorrhea and AIDS. That prospect makes education even more paramount. But it does nothing to dampen Gardasil's importance or its imperative in the battle against cervical cancer.